It really scared her to death.
Lu An'an was half-paralyzed with fear after witnessing An Xiaomei's ruthless, lightning-fast killing just now. But when she noticed the blue armband on the woman's left arm — the symbol of the Blue Team — she forced herself to calm down.
"Don't panic, she's a comrade from the Dragon Country," Lu An'an murmured under her breath, trying to talk herself down. "She only acts like that toward enemies… it was self-defense."
Meanwhile, the notification tone in An Xiaomei's ear made her expression turn a little strange.
[Ding!]
Congratulations on killing an M-country adventurer in self-defense.
You've obtained the following items from their backpack:
2 jin of potatoes, 1 iron pickaxe, 1 orange.
"So poor…?"
That was literally thirty percent of his total inventory — and it was all junk.
Only then did An Xiaomei truly realize how pitiful the lower-ranked players in this National Destiny Game lived.
The game, as always, was "considerate."
The corpse of the tall man had already disappeared, leaving behind only a faint pool of half-dried blood as the sole proof that death had happened here.
Since the threat had been dealt with, An Xiaomei gripped her weapon again without hesitation and continued swiftly in her original direction.
Watching this scene, viewers from the Dragon Country felt an inexplicable chill.
Ordinary people didn't stay that calm after killing someone.
When she killed fishmen or the island nation's man before, everyone had cheered — but this time, their excitement gave way to unease.
[I swear, Ms. An must have some kind of secret background in real life.]
[Exactly! With reflexes like that, she doesn't seem like an ordinary middle-aged housewife at all!]
[That look in her eyes scared the life out of me — I'm still shaking.]
[As a psychiatrist, I think Ms. An might have awakened a second personality in the game. Her composure, lack of emotional fluctuation, and her swift, decisive attacks all support this.]
[Second personality or not, if someone's trying to kill you, hesitation is stupid. I completely support her decisive action.]
Even the experts in charge of monitoring all Dragon Country adventurers looked baffled as they read the scrolling comments.
They glanced down at the personal dossier in their hands:
An Xiaomei — widowed, middle-aged, experienced hardship, cautious and kind by nature, diligent, self-reliant, previously assessed as emotionally stable and non-violent…
They exchanged helpless looks.
Truthfully, they agreed with the psychiatrist — there was no other way to explain the drastic transformation they were witnessing.
Inside the game, An Xiaomei jogged for another two minutes.
When the next map update pinged, she quickly looked down — the glowing dot had shifted again.
Her eyes narrowed.
That meant the flag was likely being carried by a Red Team player — otherwise, the location wouldn't keep moving.
It was also possible that one of her teammates had found it, but since there was no victory notice yet, she ruled that out.
Just as she was deep in thought, a timid female voice came from behind her.
"Um… brave warrior of the Dragon Country, may I go with you?"
It was Lu An'an.
She had already decided earlier — she was too weak to survive alone. The fact she'd lived this long was pure luck, so sticking with someone strong was the only smart move.
An Xiaomei didn't reply immediately. She quietly sized up the newcomer — a round-faced girl in her early twenties.
One look and An Xiaomei could tell she came from a well-off family back home — her features were soft, her complexion fair, her expression naive.
"You can follow me," An Xiaomei said at last, her tone cool and clipped. "But I'm not responsible for your safety."
She made herself perfectly clear.
She wasn't here to play the nanny — not for anyone.
Besides, since they were technically on the same team, refusing her would be pointless; the girl could still tail her from afar if she wanted to.
Lu An'an, however, seemed relieved by the blunt reply.
Her grandfather had once told her:
"True strength doesn't lie in pretending kindness — strong people don't deceive the weak. If someone states their principles openly, that's the kind of person you can trust to rely on."
If An Xiaomei had instead promised to "take care of her," Lu An'an would've been far more suspicious.
"Okay, okay! Don't worry, I'll behave — I won't cause any trouble!"
Lu An'an knew her place. She was borrowing strength, and she wasn't about to test her luck. She followed quietly, not daring to disturb An Xiaomei's focus.
As for An Xiaomei — she had already, the moment she agreed, planted a temporary mental seal on the girl.
If Lu An'an ever harbored malicious intent, the psychic mark left in her mind would instantly trigger — reducing her to a drooling fool.
That was An Xiaomei's nature: cautious to the core.
She valued her own life far too much to gamble it on a stranger.
Outside the game, an elderly man — a senior member of Dragon Country's leadership — watched the feed with visible relief.
His granddaughter, Lu An'an, was finally under the protection of a true powerhouse.
The two walked for nearly an hour before Lu An'an whispered urgently,
"An-jie, there's a big group of adventurers up ahead! It looks like two sides are arguing… oh no, one of our Dragon Country teammates is down — he's badly hurt!"
An Xiaomei, with her psychic senses, already knew more than Lu An'an did.
The two groups were fighting over the Red Team's flag — and the one lying half-dead on the ground was an old acquaintance: Xu Qiang, one of their main attackers.
Right now, though, he was barely clinging to life.
"Let's go," An Xiaomei said quietly. "A fight's about to break out — protect yourself."
Without waiting for a response, she dashed forward at full speed.